Stephan Hienzsch, Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame

Stephan Hienzsch, Skiing

1977 Slalom & Giant Slalom Champion
Four-Time All-American
Four CU NCAA Championship Teams
1977 Dick Schoenberger Award

A member of four Colorado NCAA champion ski teams (1975-78) ... The first Buffalo to be crowned as an NCAA Giant Slalom champion, winning the event in its second year as a junior in 1977; he also captured the slalom title two days later at that same championship, pulling off the rare sweep in the same meet (he had three of the four fastest runs between the two as well) ... It was just the sixth sweep in NCAA alpine history at the time (24 championships) ... A two-time, first-team All-American (1976, 1977) and an honorable mention performer as a freshman (1975).

He was second in the slalom (by just .19 seconds) and fourth in the giant slalom as a sophomore, so he actually earned four first-team honors All-America honors ... He was also the RMISA/NCAA West Regional champ in both the GS and slalom in 1977 (fifth and second, respectively, as a sophomore) ... As a freshman, he was 10th in the downhill (its last year as part of the NCAAs) and sixth in the slalom, earning him a third place overall in the Alpine Combined ... Named the teamGÇÖs Dick Schoenberger Award winner as the most outstanding skier for 1977 ... The only collegiate skier to be invited to race in the World Cup Series in GÇÖ77, when he was also selected to be on the U.S. Alpine programGÇÖs developmental team, the first step in climbing the ladder to the National GÇ£AGÇ¥ team ... Raced on the Canadian-American (Can-Am) racing series for a month prior to the GÇÖ77 college season ... A second-team All-American as a senior, when he was 10th in the giant slalom ... He earned his bachelorGÇÖs degree from CU in Business Administration & Marketing ... He competed on the World Pro Skiing Tour, founded by former CU ski coach and multi-Hall of Famer Bob Beattie; his best year was 1980 when he finished the season ranked 10th ... After his racing career, he gravitated into coaching along with running his own programs; he served as head coach and director of the United States Disabled Ski Team for four years while working for the U.S. Ski and Snowboarding Association (USSA) ... He was the Directoer of the Mahre Training Center (Keystone, Colo.) from 1986-96, a ski instructional program started by Phil and Steve Mahre (Olympic gold and silver medalists in the slalom in the GÇÖ84 Winter Olympics) ... Served as vice president of sales and marketing for Volant Sports ... He relocated with his wife, Carol, a lifelong equine enthusiast, to Lexington, Ky., in 2002, trading the ski slopes for bluegrass and horse farms, coinciding with his being named as the executive director of the United States Dressage Federation. (Name is pronounced GÇ£steff-en hench.GÇ¥)

Colorado University Athletics